Hm, I was pondering about the recent-ish trope of Adventuring Guilds (effectively trade unions for protagonists in fantasy rpg-inspired settings, which I’m sure I’ve seen in a bunch of things but the main example that springs to mind is Goblin Slayer to my annoyance but the Hero Association in One Punch Man has a similar albeit superhero-slanted deal), and how mechanically in the setting they exist to ensure x reward is provided for x amount of work/danger involved but in a meta sense are there so the characters don’t have to go looking for heroing gigs on ye olde Craigs Lyst or something.
It’s an interesting idea, similar in a manner to the many fantasy trope-tinged guilds in the Discworld novels of the late great Terry Pratchett, although an amusing idea occurred to me with the idea of trade unions for fantasy heroes.
Like, if there are unions to ensure employment and fair pay for folks clearing out dungeons, getting gnolls out the cabbage patch, stopping gnomes from going through your bins, and so on, then, logically, there much exist fantasy hero scab workers as well.
Folks that the local king or something brings in for lower pay on more dangerous jobs. Folks who are, say, completely new to the setting, out of their depth, and are thrust into a dangerous situation by a seemingly benevolent authority figure because said authority figure is too cheap to hire someone who understands the risks involved and asks more suitable wages for the role…
Y’know…
Oh my god… the entire isekai genre is a way for Big Adventure to avoid negotiating with Adventurer Unions!
I mean, even as the person who suggested it I’d admit it’s really silly, but at the same time even modern capitalism sucks when dealing with organised labour, I’d imagine that in a pseudo-feudal setting they’d be even more awkward about it.
Kid from earth: What? Where am I? Who are you?
Wizard: Do not be afraid young one, I have summoned thee from across time and space to our world, we are in desperate need of a hero to save our world from the forces of darkness. It is your destiny to save our world from utter ruination. Will you take on this epic quest.
Kid: Sure!!!
*Bunch of adventurers kick open the door*
Wizard: Oh shit oh shit no no no no.
Head adventurer: AINT NOBODY GOING ON ANY EPIC QUEST.
Kid: Um, who are these guys?
Wizard: Um, they are agents of the dark lord sent to stop you, quickly run past them and go do that quest.
Head adventurer: Yeah you can shut up now. PAULIE. SILENCE SPELL.
Paulie: You got it boss. *Silences the wizard*
Head adventurer: Look kid, we’re representatives of the local 102.
Kid: Uhhh….
Paulie: The adventurer’s union.
Kid: Ah. Okay I know what Unions are. They have those here?
Head Adventurer: Sure do kid, and we got word that this douchebag was using magic to pull in unqualified under aged non union adventurers from another dimension so that he could avoid having to pay us our proper due. How old are you kid?
Kid: Um….14?
Head adventurer: Come on.
Kid: Okay twelve
Head adventurer: *Turns to wizard* You kidnapped a twelve year old kid to go fight the dark lord? Were you even gonna give them any equipment? Any magical training? Any supervision?
Wizard: *shrugs*
Head adventurer: *Hands kid a scroll* Here is a portal scroll back here, you want to still do this in like six years, give us a holler and we’ll set you up with some basic training and an apprenticeship, Until then, go back to your world and do whatever kids there do.
Kid: Yessir.
Head adventurer: As for you ya douchebag, Go tell that fat gasbag of a king he wants the dark lord defeated he better pony up the cash to hire a real, union certified adventuring party. And you try this crap again then the next kid you summon is gonna have an epic quest of dislodging my boot from your ass.
If you’re having a bad day, please consider these visuals of my father fast asleep on our drive back from the vet with our week-old baby alpaca (Snowcap) and her mama (Avalanche):
Bonus: Avalanche kept lightly rubbing the top of his head, which was HILARIOUS
I hope this made someone smile! 😄
this is precisely how travel should happen
He takes care of baby. She takes care of him.
GUYS MY POP AND HIS ALPACAS HAVE PASSED THE 1000 NOTE MARK I can’t wait to tell him 😁
I got to ‘and passed’ & I was like !?!? HES DEAD!?!?
People like this have really been brainwashed into thinking that Whites were never enslaved lol.
Hey Alexa, how many Europeans were enslaved during the Barbary Slave Trade?
How many Slavs were captured along the Volga and sold in Arab countries?
How many Germans were made slaves by the Romans?
How many Greeks were made slaves by the Turks?
Practically every culture has been enslaved and practiced slavery
Where does the word slave come from? Hmmm….
This is one of the many problems with US education.
Irish friend of mine has a journal passed down through generations of his family denoting the horrible shit one of his ancestors went through as “indentured servant” in America. Of watching his wife be rapes to make him compliant. Of theats of violence and the murder of fellow “indentured servants” to serve as examples. Of threat to rape his daughter to death to punish the parents for not doing a good enough job. Irish people might have escaped this shit better than black people, but its complete bullshit to act like they didn’t suffer through slavery.
Oh God that’s horrible. It makes it all the worse when they aren’t even effing acknowledged. I tried to bring this up in a history class, but the teacher and another student both shot me down. I didn’t even bother trying to correct them any further as they both seemed dead set on the “just indentured servants” mentality. The teacher seemed a pretty cool dude, but he gave off “woke” vibes.
People like this have really been brainwashed into thinking that Whites were never enslaved lol.
Hey Alexa, how many Europeans were enslaved during the Barbary Slave Trade?
How many Slavs were captured along the Volga and sold in Arab countries?
How many Germans were made slaves by the Romans?
How many Greeks were made slaves by the Turks?
Practically every culture has been enslaved and practiced slavery
Where does the word slave come from? Hmmm….
This is such a disgusting mindset to have.
Some people are so America-centric they think the NAST (and only the part happening in North America) was the only kind of slavery that ever existed.
On that note, the Irish were never victims of chattel slavery, and that may be what most people mean when they say “The Irish were never slaves,” but equating one specific kind of slavery with slavery in the general sense is pretty short-sighted on its own.
>Some people are so America-centric they think the NAST (and only the part happening in North America) was the only kind of slavery that ever existed.
Even in that type of slavery, most of them were secondhand from other black people.
So Wokesters go “oh, no, African slavery was a different, more respectful type of slavery.”
Oddly, they never seem to be bothered by the fact the first slave owner in the U.S. was a black man.
People like this have really been brainwashed into thinking that Whites were never enslaved lol.
Hey Alexa, how many Europeans were enslaved during the Barbary Slave Trade?
How many Slavs were captured along the Volga and sold in Arab countries?
How many Germans were made slaves by the Romans?
How many Greeks were made slaves by the Turks?
Practically every culture has been enslaved and practiced slavery
Where does the word slave come from? Hmmm….
This is such a disgusting mindset to have.
Some people are so America-centric they think the NAST (and only the part happening in North America) was the only kind of slavery that ever existed.
On that note, the Irish were never victims of chattel slavery, and that may be what most people mean when they say “The Irish were never slaves,” but equating one specific kind of slavery with slavery in the general sense is pretty short-sighted on its own.
>Some people are so America-centric they think the NAST (and only the part happening in North America) was the only kind of slavery that ever existed.
Even in that type of slavery, most of them were secondhand from other black people.
So Wokesters go “oh, no, African slavery was a different, more respectful type of slavery.”
No, that isn’t why people keep trying to make out that the slavery in the colonies/United States is a whole different kind of slavery to any other around the world. By keeping it exclusive, they are then better able to claim victimhood from it instead of recognising they were one of many cogs and not special at all. The way you can tell is that they still talk about reparations when most of the slave trades listed above and more never got any reparations or even apologies by their slavers like black people have gotten multiple times in the US. They also purposely exclud the Natives of North America, refusing to acknowledge that they were sold exactly like new African slaves, and instead focus on how the Irish weren’t slaves because “their slavery wasn’t the same”.
And that’s why I can never take them seriously on this subject. They’re trying to bank on suffering and atrocities they themselves never faced, from people who never oppressed anyone. It makes me ashamed and want to avoid them like the plague whenever they start bringing it up. Meanwhile, ignoring every other races suffering because they aren’t black and can’t capitalize off of it.
What further irritates me, is when they act like racism, slavery and their horrors aren’t being talked about. Like…did they pay attention in elementary and middle school? Do they not know about Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas’ stories? Do they know about the Underground Railroad tales? Were they not allowed field trips to plantations to study them in person? Didn’t they have worksheets on Black History month? ‘Cause I sure did.
That Martin Luther King Jr animated movie still leaves an impact on me today.
